Chronocidal

No, 0g physics (TRUE 0g physics) just means that all the craft move according to Newtons laws of motion. Since you don't have any atmosphere for drag in space, you don't need the engine running non-stop. It's the way the space shuttle works. Firing a thruster gives you acceleration, not velocity, so you keep moving once the thruster is turned off. Even in a 0g environment though, you will accelerate from manevuers, so you can still blackout or redout. Say you were floating freely inside a large box equipped with thrusters. If a thruster on one side of the box fired with 1g worth of force, you would accelerate toward that wall at the same rate you fall on earth. If the thruster continued to fire non-stop, you'd be able to walk around on that surface the same as you would the ground on earth. Once the thruster stops firing though, you both maintain constant velocity, and you'll float off the wall. If the thruster fired with enough force, you could accelerate fast enough to black out, or red out, depending on your body's orientation. Target padlock view is actually just a term used to describe your head following a target in combat. Most games I've had that use it let you choose how to follow your target. Either you have a target indicator that tells you which way to steer toward it (such as a HUD indicator), or they let you lock your viewpoint on the target, and your head pivots to follow it. Most games have a limit to how far you can turn your head to follow, but some will let you look around behind you. The trick to a padlock view is you have to be careful about situational awareness. Since you're focused on a target, you're not actually looking where your nose is pointing, which can be bad. Traditionally you look through your gun reticle, and steer so that your target enters it. Padlock view is kind of the reverse, in that you look straight at the target, and steer the reticle to line up with it. It's a bit tricky to get used to, but keeping your eyes on your target lets you see exactly what its doing at all times, letting you respond to its maneuvers very quickly. As for a control scheme, I've been trying to figure out a good one for years I'll post my thoughts on that later, just beware the description will not be short.

Actually, the original FS2 was pretty close to Star Wars space physics (ie, ship flies like a plane in space). BTRL tried to change that as much as they could, but lets face it, no one makes a computer control system that would be adequate for 6 degree-of-freedom flight. When you can thrust and rotate on any axis, controls get very hard to manage. The only set of controls I ever saw that might work for that actually CAME from Star Wars Those twin handled controls you see in some ships (maybe with a set of pedals as well) could probably produce every directional control you'd need, sort of like the dual joysticks in Virtual On could produce so many motion directions for the mechs.

Sheesh.. I'm glad to see someone actually try and compile all the modding info in one place. The ubisoft boards for Hawx are an utter mess.. you'd need a dedicated modding community board before anything useful would be easily accessible. Browsing through a single gigantic topic to find info was useless, so I gave up looking, and went back to other games. Freespace 2 became the basic standard for home-brewn games when it went open source, so it's sad to see someone claimed it again. Although, for $6 I can hardly complain, it's WELL worth that price. And actually, having someone take an economic interest in the game after all these years might not be all bad.. it proves that someone out there realizes there's still money to be made on good space/flight combat games. The biggest problem I have with the FS2 engine is that is just lacks so many more modern standards for flight combat games.. After years of playing newer sims, I don't know how I ever played without a 3d cockpit and a target padlock feature (pseudo 3d games like Wing Commander 1 and 2 were fun, but I always hated the restrictive cockpits). FS2's interface is not bad, but it could really use some more modern features. Hopefully the modding community has fixed a few of these things, since it's been a while since I looked around, but the BTRL demo I played still used the standard cockpit interface.

Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts. I made an F-14 for MS Flight Sim, and animating the main landing gear was a nightmare.

What markings are on that F-18? I had thought about getting one of those a while back, but held out hoping for an F-14.

He should've put in a wall-sized tv with a direct video phone line to Mel Brooks' bathroom wall.

Well, the problem with what they're saying is that the plane shown is NOT a VF-84 Jolly Roger, or at least none that I've ever seen. While they may have gotten a few upgrades before switching to VF-103, I thought those modded countermeasure sidewinder rails were a relatively new thing? And I can't help thinking they doubled up on the sensor pods.. I remember reading that the ones that were placed inside the upper intake lips were partially to replace the external ones in front of the main gear, and they only had room since they removed the glove vanes. This plane looks very much like it has both sets.

Wooot... well, that's at least a couple worries I had shot down.. appears ALL the weapons are removable (I love a clean plane sometimes ) and the gear look nicely detailed. Loving those nozzles too, although to be honest, I'd love it more if they included opened and closed versions. This is definitely a late model A though, it's got all the sensor bumps that the last ones in service had (under the wing glove, left front gear door, etc) as well as the later NACA style intakes on the gun. Wait a second.. anyone else think it looks like they added the internal sensors as well as the external ones on the gloves? The upper lip looks like it has a definite bump to it. I thought those were only on the D models, and it replaced the external ones? Either they're mixed up, or this plane is a mashup of production pieces from different versions.

Lol.. well, as confusing as the novels sometimes are, please read them quickly... we need more people in the know the discuss the details with, and maybe come up with some kind of explanation for all the shenanigans. Btw..

True enough, although I dunno if it counts Oy, as much as I've been avoiding it, I really need to just read through the whole series again. The little things I can't remember for sure are driving me nuts

Oh dear lord, I think you just broke the series. And maybe the internets as well. Ok, double spoiler over. Actually, to be honest, that could actually fit in some ways... and it definitely puts a WHOLE other spin on why big Asahina said "don't get too close to me." Of course, it also opens the possibility for a bit of "No, I am your father" humor.

Okay, now that really makes my brain hurt. Would be a hilarious twist though. I'm still trying to decide if protecting Kyon is actually part of what Nagato is supposed to do, or something she just wants to do.

I have to admit, the Uber-Kyon theory would be interesting, but considering how often he panics over the crazy stuff that happens, you'd think his thoughts would have stopped some of it. I dunno the exact philosophy, or what it's referred to, but this anime is basically a complete manifestation of the idea that thinking something causes it to be that way. I've known some people who think that way at times, that if they believe something, or think about something happening, then the very act of thinking that way can sometimes have enough of an effect to actually cause it to happen. Haruhi is like a direct embodiment of that, even though she doesn't realize it. What I really would like to see? What was Kyon originally doing on Tanabata? He was basically in two places at once at that point (or maybe three? need to re-read more), but what was the younger version of him doing? If it was significant in some way.. that might lend credence to the idea that he's responsible for it all. Anyway, theres' obviously a lot more going on than we realize.. especially considering the interest that Kyon gets from everyone in the club. Nagato continues to look to him for guidance. Asahina (big) obviously knows a lot of what happens, and keeps giving him warnings to protect him. Koizumi is a little more discreet, but he obviously does what he can to protect Kyon. They all have an interest in Haruhi, and observe her... But Kyon? All three of them seem to know something that he doesn't, and are working to make sure that he does what he needs to do. And.. oh crap. Just had a thought. Gah, my brain hurts and my fingers are tired. I think wayyy too much about this series... Anyway, maybe Kyon has more to do with everything than he thinks. I mean, the entire series is ten tons of irony... the guy who wishes to be a side character in these types of stories is the narrator, and obviously the main focus. I'd be very surprised if he is responsible for it all, but I wouldn't say it's impossible at all.

I didn't know any of them had been officially translated yet, but there's a site I found dedicated to a lot of fan-translated novels, and they've done all the published Haruhi books, as well as some shorter bits that don't fit in with them. Think the site's called Baka-Tsuki.

Just finished re-reading Disappearance and Day of Sagittarius... funny, didn't realize how close those were together in the time line. I have to agree, the more in-depth pwnage of the computer society was much more epic in the novel than in the anime, but it would've taken far too long to describe I think. Disappearance has me thinking a couple things though... either they're going to finish the season at the end of that story, and wait for season 3 to resolve the cliffhanger (of sorts), or they're going to try and work it in. What's funny... if they do go the latter route, and work it in, I almost think they might do that part out of order entirely, showing the resolution before the problem. I kind of hope not, but it might add an interesting twist to see that aspect of the story in reverse. They did that a lot with the first season after all, having Kyon talk about the conclusion of the season vaguely throughout the season. It might not work so well here though, because it'll be a lot harder to be that vague when so much of the story will be wound together in that short solution bit. Another thing occurred to me though, and it's maybe a bit troubling.. I hope that they do find some way to resolve the Disappearance story within this season.. otherwise, they might write themselves into a corner. If they do extend into a third season, that season will probably wind up dipping into the unresolved material in the last novel... now, while it might force the author to continue the story, it could also wind up being an unfinished series, which would suck royally. I hope they find a way to resolve everything within another season or two. The plot could go on much longer, but I dunno if they'd do it.

Ok, I'm rather amazed... I think that's the first good guy Alto I've yet seen.

Two is far too few, I agree... though the problem is, the way those stories work, they could theoretically go on forever. There's no set conclusion, and all signs point to those stories actually being in a of sorts, with no effect on the actual storyline. The only possible reason for them existing that I can see so far is that Anywho, I really just want to see the crazyness of dropping the characters into random fantasy settings. If this were the U.S., that plot line alone would be it's own series (now that I think of it, it sounds like Sliders ) Same here, I love time loops, or time travel in general, which is why I REALLY want to see them make "The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya"... the time shenanigans in that book were great. But that would have to be the core story for another season due to its length, plus it's a big lead-in to the unfinished plotline in vol 9. I do think Endless Eight would suffer a bit from being crammed into one episode. I need to re-read that one, I don't remember if they actually told about more than one loop. I do need to read it again, but I loved the more in depth explanation of the game in the novel. The animation was great for showing the battle happening, but the details of the strategy got lost, and a lot of Asahina's cuteness was lost in the process when they didn't go more into how lost she actually was in the game. This episode is also why I want to see Haruhi Theater done so much. Having them act out parts in a game again would be awesome to see. It's actually pretty funny, everytime I see that episode, it makes me want to go play Homeworld. While the mechanics are a bit different, it's similar enough that a Homeworld "Day of Sagittarius" mod could be awesome. That's actually one thing I think they glossed over in the episode btw.. it WAS a lot closer to Homeworld.. I think Asahina got stuck with all the mining duties too. Or maybe it was just managing weapons supply ships.. again, I'll have to re-read it all.

My guess for the second season is that it'll be roughly like the first.. one main storyline, intersected by a few random stories from throughout the books. Rhapsody really only makes sense as an opener for Disappearance, and the entire computer fiasco on the Haruhi website was taken directly from that story, so there's no reason to expect they won't be using that for the main storyline. Not to mention, the whole thing is a freaking epic time pretzel, and I can't wait to read the discussions on it. Btw, I agree, they need to show the filming of the movie somehow, but I almost think it would lose something in anime form. Explaining all the things that happened in one episode might cramp things too much... although, they could split it up like they did the Lone Island story. To be honest though, I'd much rather see the Snow Mountain story done.. and that would probably take 3 episodes in its entirety, due to the beginning of the story. To be completely honest.. as long as they get the disappearance story in there, I almost don't care what else they do. If tradition holds, they may work up one more original episode... if they do 14 more, you could probably do Disappearance in 6-7... 2 for the movie filming.. I dunno. I'd have to go thru the novels again to see what stand alone stories might work. The ghost hunt is a nice stand alone, as is the one where Asahina takes Kyon to the tea shop... so many ideas. Finally, as unlikely as it would be.. I want the Haruhi Theater stories. Those are hilarious, comletely nonsensical, and they actually do tie into the main stories (in a completely bass-ackwards way). If anyone wants to read them, I can post links, they're not very long, and don't intersect with the main plot at all. They're just random side stories that most likely will not have any effect on the rest of the series. I'm trying very hard not to go into full Haruhism mode, and I think I'll be able to hang on. I obsessed over the novels a while back, and blew through them very quickly, so already knowing the stories will probably help ground me a bit now. Edit: Gah, just looking over the stories, there's so many I want to see The snow mountain syndrome would be a fun one, or the one where some football player falls in love with Nagato. I don't think they'll get into the heavy duty plot in "Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya".. that's more of a lead into the last volume, and there's no finish for that as of yet. I just wonder if they have enough to make a 3rd season.. if they aren't careful about what's in the 2nd season, they might need a 3rd to finish the story and tie up loose ends.

Most likely a new guy, probably meant to be a descendant. From what I remember, McCoy was the oldest recorded living human being in the TNG universe.

My thought about using Hawx as a starting point is mainly because it's the only current gen flight combat game period that looks to be capable of being modded to anything close to Macross. Seems like lately, the flight game market has pretty much disappeared. It's a dying genre, especially with Microsoft canning it's flight sim team in the past year. Unless someone comes up with some new, very moddable flight sim (not likely), Hawx is about all we have to work with. In all honesty, it would probably be easier to start a game from scratch, since you could integrate a lot more features from the start. That's what YS Flight has been doing, and it appears to be going well, although I haven't tried it yet myself. If I knew more about programming (already got a bit of background in 6 degree of freedom flight modeling) I'd love to start work on a dedicated Macross sim. Unfortunately, my computer skills are mostly on the graphics side, and without a good game engine to work with, I'm not much help. I can do the flight math, but don't have a clue where to start programming. When you start talking about things like Valks, and how they fly, the math will get very complicated, very fast. Hawx's game engine is just flat out missing a lot of what a good flight combat game needs, and no amount of modding could fix that, so it'd still be hard to get a decent Macross total conversion working. But oddly enough, one of my biggest gripes about Hawx could become a strength if it was turned into a Macross game.. the game already uses anime physics.

This statement is the one and only reason to bother with HAWX. While the PC version of the game is buggy as all hell (even after 2 so called "patches"), it's still a PC version, which means you can hack it to shreds and unlock a ton of content that the company is trying to sell as "DLC" to the console owners. That said, I think the PC community may give this game some decent life, even if only by modding it. The game's system appears pretty simple to alter (even the flight physics appear tweakable last I checked), so it's only a matter of time before people who care about accuracy and realism fix the game. Depending on how much it can be changed, the game engine might make a solid starting point for building a current gen Macross game, via a total conversion. *sighs* Every time I think I'm done modding games, a new one comes out that I want to tweak.

Good grief, first the YF-19, and now this... my wallet's crying already. To be honest, as nice as a PG version would be.. I'd rather have it without some of those gimmicks, just for simplicity. I can definitely live without lighting, there just aren't that many lit parts on these to make it worthwhile (compared to something like a star trek kit, where half the durn ship glows ) The inner framework PG kits tend to have would be VERY nice to have for something that transforms, but I could live without it if the price is right. My only real worry is affordability, since I know I'm going to want several of these. I do hope they make multiple versions, or at least include the separate heads/weapons in one kit. Boosters would be nice, but in 1/48, things might get a bit difficult to support.

The background to this is more completely explained in the comic, and I've heard there were several scenes left out about what happened to Nero during those 25 years.

Actually a bit more star wars than I realized at first...

I think the F-4 became vaporware somehow, seems it was just too impractical to sell or something... but the quality looked good before all news of it disappeared. *sigh* Why is it that everything I want comes out right after I blow a bunch of money on something else? This thing will be huge, but I know I'll have to get at least one... At least the Lego Millenium Falcon I just ordered gets smaller when you take it apart.